Gibbs' Rules
by Jenny wrens
Summary: Aimee runs away, dragging Janessa with her. Tony intercepts the two girls and discovers that Aimee is sick to death of rules. The two of them commiserate on Gibbs' rules helping one another understand why the rules are in place. Just a cute little one-shot continued in the same universe as Internal Damage because I love writing. Hope you enjoy.


**A one shot continuation of my story universe Internal Damage. You might want to read that first in order to know the new characters. Gibbs is in the process of adopting two little girls, and one of the girls is getting tired of obeying rules. Enjoy :)**

Tony pulled into Gibbs laneway, switching off the ignition and fiddling with his GPS. The ridiculous thing seemed to boot up on its own lately and, for some unknown reason, it was trying to send him to some mysterious destination in Seattle. A shadow fell over him and he looked up to see nine-year-old Aimee Percy peering into the car at him. A bright smile came to his face only to melt away quickly from the scowl he received in return. He opened his car door and saw her stomp past without a word, carrying her pink camo backpack and dragging Janessa roughly by the hand behind her.

"Again?" he muttered, more to himself than to the fleeing girl.

Tony hurried to catch up and fell into step with her while winking at Janessa who managed a small smile as she was dragged behind her sister.

"I hate him! He sucks rotten banana peels and dirty socks!" The little girl's blond ponytails bobbed up and down as she grumbled to Tony and stomped her feet on the sidewalk.

"What'd Gibbs do now?"

"He's gonna send us to school," said Janessa, her eyes as round as saucers. "I never gots to go to school before."

Aimee tugged on Janessa's hand roughly to keep her from falling behind. Tony came up behind the five-year-old girl, scooped her up and set her on his shoulders for a ride. He heard the little girl sigh in relief as she wrapped her small arms around his neck.

"We're not going to school, Nessa. Forget it!" Aimee adjusted her backpack and kept walking, increasing her speed. "Go away, Tony!"

Tony ignored her and kept following. "Where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here. He's impossible!"

Tony chuckled. There were times when he couldn't disagree with that assessment. Leroy Jethro Gibbs was pig-headed and impossible nearly every day of his life. It was what he was good at.

"I'm hungry, Tony," complained Janessa.

Tony held her tiny legs securely so she wouldn't slip off his shoulders. "Didn't you eat any breakfast?"

"Aimee wouldn't let me finish my pancakes."

"Shut up, Nessa!"

Tony continued walking behind the determined girl, wondering why Gibbs kept allowing Aimee to stalk off whenever things didn't go her way. This was probably the fourth time in a couple of weeks that Aimee had packed up her backpack and run off, dragging Janessa with her. It was like Gibbs had gained another ex-wife and Janessa was the kid caught up in a bitter custody battle.

"Can we have pizza for supper tonight?" asked Janessa.

Tony grinned. "Sounds good to me. I want double anchovies."

Janessa wrinkled her nose. "Yuck! I hates fishes. You can have them on your piece. I want ham and pineapple."

"Pineapple? Gross. Whoever came up with putting fruit on pizza should be shot."

Aimee stopped walking, spun on her heel and glared at Tony.

"Stop it! Stop talking like we're going back. I'm not going back!" She crossed her arms and glowered at him, daring him to say otherwise.

Tony sobered. "Aims, you know he's going to bring you back."

She stomped her foot. "Then I'll run away again! I hate all his dumb rules!" She twisted around to walk away but Tony caught her gently by the arm.

"Aimee, you and I both know Gibbs will not allow you to keep running away." Tony couldn't figure out why Gibbs had let it go on this long. "Besides, running away from your problems isn't going to solve them."

From the corner of his eye, Tony saw a playground. It was early morning and most of the kids in the neighbourhood were in school so the play area was abandoned.

"How about we let Janessa play for a bit and us grownups can talk? What do you say?" Tony lifted Janessa back to her feet and the little girl took off for the swings.

"Push me, Tony!" she called as she ran with a giggle.

Aimee crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him.

Tony reached out and scooped her up in his arms. "C'mon you little grumpster."

Tony was relieved when Aimee didn't fight him. He walked towards a picnic table and set her down, sitting beside her. Janessa had managed to get sidetracked on the climber. She seemed content to run up and down the slide. Tony didn't bother to correct her on proper slide etiquette. The menacing activity was keeping her busy enough, and he figured there was no slide police close by to care. He was a slide rebel himself so he secretly condoned the activity.

"You shouldn't let her do that."

"Why?"

"She might get hurt."

Tony shrugged. "I guess then she won't do it again, will she?"

Aimee bit her lip. "I would."

Tony grinned. "So would I."

Aimee laughed.

"Yesterday, Agent Braddock brought you back and earned a black eye for his trouble."

"Can't say I didn't warn him."

"Monday, Agent Sully brought you back…"

"Fat lip," murmured Aimee.

Tony bit back a smirk. The kid was one tough cookie. "Last week, Tim brought you back. Why didn't you slug him?"

Aimee shrugged. "I like Timmy, and he bought us ice cream. Chocolate mint is my favourite."

"I'll remember."

"Are you going to make us go back today?"

Tony leaned on his elbows, turning his head to face her. "Are you gonna hit me?"

"Depends."

Tony chewed his lip thoughtfully. "How about we talk first?"

Aimee sighed, gritting her teeth. "I hate his rules! He's got a freakin' rule for everything, Tony."

Tony lifted a brow. "Freaking?"

"I could say worse."

"Um, yah, I'm sure you could. How about we leave out the 'f' words for now?"

"Just because you don't like 'em, doesn't mean I don't say 'em."

Tony grimaced. "You're too young to be jaded, Aims. Fifty-year-old truckers can get away with it but nine-year-old girls, not so much."

Aimee narrowed her eyes but relented.

"Gibbs wouldn't be Gibbs if he didn't have rules."

"They're stupid!"

Tony laughed. He couldn't argue with that. Sometimes, Gibbs' rules were stupid, and Tony swore the elder man made them up as he went along.

"So, what's worse? The rules or him making you go to school?"

"Both."

Tony stared at her for a few moments, deliberating on how to proceed or if he should change tactics. Working with kids wasn't his forte. It wasn't that he didn't like kids; he just had a more difficult time thinking on his feet around them. That seemed to be Gibbs thing. Gibbs just seemed cool, nonchalant and laid back. Tony, on the other hand, was more used to being the kid. Tony scratched his head thoughtfully. If he couldn't convince her rules were useful, then maybe he could get her to convince him.

"You know, maybe you're right!"

Aimee's eyes widened.

"Say, would you mind if I ran away with you?"

Skepticism riddled Aimee's face. "You're just saying that to play some kind of mind trick on me. I'm not some dumb kid, ya know."

Tony frowned. "No way! I'm serious. You're right! I'm sick of Gibbs rules. I swear he makes 'em up as he goes. Just yesterday, we were at this crime scene and he slapped me so hard, I'm still seeing stars, all because I wasn't wearing gloves. Can you believe it? He said," Tony made his voice sound deep as he mimicked Gibbs' brusque no nonsense voice. "Rule #2, DiNozzo. Always wear gloves!" Tony shook his head in indignation.

Aimee narrowed her eyes at him. "Tony, that's not a dumb rule," she explained. "If you don't wear gloves then they might think you're the criminal."

"Oh, yah, good point. I guess that's not a dumb rule." Tony raked a hand through his dark hair. "Well, the day before last, he yelled at me because he couldn't reach me on my cell phone. Rule #3, DiNozzo. Never be unreachable." Tony looked at her with a pained expression expecting sympathy. He received none.

"You're a special agent, Tony. Gibbs needs to know where you are, silly."

"Oh, yah, I guess you're right about that too."

Aimee shook her head. "At least he doesn't make you clean your room all the time. It took me hours to set up my Lego city and he made me clean it all up before bed last night! That's so stupid!"

"Rule 45," said Tony with sympathy in his voice.

Aimee wrinkled her nose. "What's that?"

"Clean up the mess you make."

"That's like actually an official NCIS rule?"

Tony laughed. "Aimee, NCIS doesn't have rules. These are Gibbs' rules."

"How many does he have?"

"About 50."

Aimee's eyes widened in horror. "Holy cow!"

Tony sat up straighter and scanned the playground to see Janessa swinging on the swing on her belly. She was babbling to herself and seemed to be still enjoying herself. He pulled himself back further on the picnic table and stared up at the sunny sky.

"Gibbs wanted me to come over for a _talk_ today _._ Probably because I broke rule #9 and #15 last week."

Aimee stood to her feet to reach for her backpack.

"Whatcha doing?"

She reached into her bag and grabbed out a notebook. She sat down again and opened the book, reaching for a pencil in her bag as well. Tony bit back a smirk as she jotted down the numbers he's just mentioned. She looked over at him and colour came to her cheeks.

"I'm never going to remember any of these rules, Tony, and I sure don't want him getting any ideas about slapping me on the back of the head."

Tony chuckled. "No worries, Aims. I think it's a rule that no one under the age of 20 can get the patented Gibbs smack."

Aimee looked unsure. "Well, I don't want any lowered ones either."

"Good plan, Squirt, "said Tony, smirking. He was fairly certain that Gibbs wouldn't think twice about applying lowered Gibbs smacks to unruly kids in his care. Gibbs was an old fashioned marine gunny. He had a very short fuse for insubordination from anyone. And that included cute little blond haired girls, even if they were adorable.

"So, what's rule 9 and 15?"

Tony sighed, sounding annoyed and grumpy. "Never go anywhere without a knife and always work as a team."

Aimee rolled her eyes and set her pencil down. "Tony!" she said with frustration in her voice once again. Both her expression and tone made Tony work hard not to laugh.

"What?" Tony's eyes gleamed with mischievousness.

"Those aren't bad rules either." Aimee sighed and began to explain why she thought the rules were good ones. Her voice held an exasperated tone to it like she was explaining something simple to a child younger than herself.

"Well, if you think you have so bad, what rules did he give you?"

Aimee narrowed her eyes, unsure if she wanted to share now.

"Well?" badgered Tony again, elbowing her in the side.

Aimee handed Tony her notebook. "Here, write these down so you won't forget." She began to list on her fingers. "Brush your teeth before bed. Lights out at 9 pm. Eat your vegetables. Don't talk back. Don't go into the basement without permission. Don't take the screen out of the tree house window."

Tony wrote quickly as Aimee continued to rhyme off rule after rule that probably every little kid in the universe had inflicted upon them by any good parent. Tony did his best not to burst out laughing at the expression of pure agony on the little girls face.

"And, to top it all off, now he wants us to go to school! That's nuts!"

"Is that really so bad?"

"Yes!"

Tony rested the pencil on the pad of paper. "What do you do all day now when Gibbs is at work?"

Aimee reached out and took her notebook. "Well, Mrs. Buchannan makes me read all kinds of boring books. Then we help her weed and water her garden. I ride my bike and watch TV. We play in the treehouse. Don't tell Gibbs, but I can climb up to the branch with the knot…"

Now it was Tony's turn to be shocked. "Aimee Percy, that must be more than sixty feet high. That's dangerous!" he scolded before he could stop himself.

"But I can see everywhere up there. It's so cool!"

"You won't think so if Gibbs catches you, plus it's very dangerous!"

Aimee scowled at him and Tony sighed, deciding to change the subject. He'd deviously slip an anonymous note to Gibbs later, informing him to check the screen on the treehouse again. He wouldn't be a tattle-tale knowingly. Big brothers needed to stay heroes, after all.

"School can be fun. Certainly a lot more fun than weeding Mrs. Buchannan's garden."

Tony stood to his feet, brushing off the imaginary dirt from his jeans. He glanced at his watch wondering if Gibbs had contacted someone to drag the kids back again. Aimee and Janessa had been gone a little over an hour and he'd seen at least three agents in plain cars drive by unbeknownst to the girls.

"Anyway, we should get going if we're going to run away. Gibbs was expecting me about a half hour ago and as of right now, my name is mud. So, where should we go?"

Aimee stood up, jamming her notebook into her backpack again. Tony helped her slip it back around her arms.

"Did you like school, Tony?"

Tony shrugged. "Sure. I got to hang out with some pretty cool people. Made a lot of great friends. We went on field trips to museums and stuff. I learned a lot about history. I love to read about how the good guys beat the bad guys. I don't spend all my time watching Magnum, you know."

Aimee giggled. "What do you think Gibbs will do to me if I go home?"

Tony shrugged. "What happened after you slugged Braddock?"

She sighed. "Some dumb lecture about treating people how you want to be treated. Blah. Blah. Blah. Then I had to write an apology note to give to Agent Braddock and rake all the leaves in the back yard. It took me all day!" She rolled her eyes indignantly.

"Wow, that's harsh." Tony reached out a hand and she took it without thinking. " Although, he'd have smacked my head into the middle of next week. I think you got off lucky!"

Aimee shrugged.

"What'd he do about the fat lip?"

Aimee sighed again. "Let's just say that I sand his boat in my sleep these days."

Tony laughed. "That's rough."

"Actually, it's pretty darn smooth now," she said with a snicker.

Tony shook his head. "So, what do you say, Wise Guy. Gibbs house or the road?"

Aimee walked silently beside him as they approached the climber looking for Janessa. Tony noticed that the younger girl had decided to tackle to fireman pole. She was desperately trying to pull herself up but kept sliding down, landing on her butt with a thump. Tony couldn't help smirking. Janessa just didn't get the idea of poles and ropes.

"Gibbs' house," she murmured quietly with a small sigh of defeat. "I guess it's not all bad. He's the only one I know who cooks steaks in the fireplace in the living room."

Janessa squealed when he came up behind her and caught her before she could fall on her butt again.

"That's definitely a plus in my books. What about the rules?"

"Lemme go, Tony." Janessa wriggled in his arms determined to figure out the pole.

"I thought you said you were hungry, Nessie."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot." Janessa slipped to her feet and took Tony's other hand. "Are we finished running away yet, Aimee? I'm starving!"

Tony bit back a smirk as Aimee chewed her lip. "Ok, let's go home. But I'm gonna have a talk with Gibbs about all his rules. He's driving me crazy!"

Tony laughed loudly, picking each girl up in a football hold under each arm. "Good luck with that, Aims."

Both girls screeched and giggled as Tony started walking back towards Gibbs' home. Tony smiled to himself. Maybe he was getting better at this parenting stuff. Then he choked on his thoughts. Who was he kidding? He was the big brother. He got to have all the fun and be the hero. He'd leave the bad guy stuff to Gibbs. He was better at it.


End file.
